It's been one of those days....

July 2012

July 27, 2012

1. Olympics start tomorrow and we are ready. We have Abby made olympic torches for each family on display in our lounge. Since this pic was taken we have more added. A green-on-green one for Auntie Nancy in London and a green-on-orange one for Uncle Vaughan. Who have both seen the torch carried into London in person. How cool is that.

(Ps those of you in Timaru - that little piece of driftwood was picked up on the beach there when we visited in 2011 (I think it was?), it was a present for the grandparents for their garden but it's still at our house... )

2. I've caught the common man flu and as a result you'll find that Chicken Cuppa-Soup has now been moved to the "Totally acceptable to serve to your family for dinner" list.

3. Neener. Neener. Neener. This means the days are getting longer. Summer is getting closer. So encouraging. (photo has been edited for my Project Life album)

4. Tell me. Why do PE teachers still use the "Here are 2 leaders, now each have turns picking a team from a class of 33" method of choosing teams? What's wrong with walking through the line of kids tapping their heads going 1,2,1,2,1,2? It's a long time standing while people are being picked around you, and then ending up standing there last. Just say the last child already had esteem issues that have taken a lot of work. Just say that really affected that last child standing. Just sayin'.

5. I've joined The Color Room team of designers. My contributions thus far have been nothing less than pathetic, I intend to change that when work settles a little. It's an amazing resource and I joined because I wanted to be pushed outside my zone a little. I'm usually given the products to scrap with, so I don't have a choice in what I use. The Colour Room means I get free reign, as long as I stay within a colour palette. That's pretty cool. And outright terrifying actually. My first attempt was a few weeks ago, palette 117. Cute kid huh?

July 20, 2012

It's so different being on the other side of SENZ. While I enjoy teaching and being in the classroom, I loved being out and about with everyone. It was lovely to spend relaxed quality chatting time with some of my favourite people in the booth I had created with my hubby Paul, friends Tana & Lianne, and amazing neighbour, Willow.

Of course we had the kids products on display - a basket full of ribbon from Jacob and diecut pieces from Abby & Braden...

It wasn't long before the booth was full. This pic shows the paremeters of our booth, it stayed this full for a lot of the time we were there.

Along with those people that knew me through my teaching and retreats came many that didn't. Every other store had big signs saying who they were. I was asked over and over "So what store are you? Where are you from?": I ended up putting up a sign that said:

Nic HowardScrapbooking teacher, designer, writer.And just a girl with too much stuff in her garage.

And so we spent the weekend getting to know everyone better. Lianne and I had an enourmous amount of fun in the demo area. We started out all very structured, showing the basics of working with resin, but by Sunday afternoon we were experimenting with all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to colour the resin in the molds. Some were highly successful, you'll see the gorgeous marbled heart worn as a necklace one day I'm sure, and some were not. Pouring alcohol inks into the mold and pouring resin in on top does not work. Just sayin'.

Check out Lianne's amazing works of art on the wall in the booth. These are all resin pieces with chipboard.

So all in all, a fabulous time was had by all.

Conclusions:

1. It was wonderful to spend time on a project with my hubby. He was a trooper, he stood at that till and worked all day every day, chatting and serving customers without barely a break. When we returned home and I told him how incredibly amazed I was at his people skills, his answer was "I got 17 phone numbers and an invite to a hen's party, I think it was worth it honey". Hmmmmm....

2. SENZ brings all types together in a way that no other event in New Zealand does. We had stampers, we had scrapbookers, mixed media artists, retailers, consumers and the cafe guy that couldn't believe how many caramel slices he could sell in one weekend. The show had a buzz that was happy, people were enthused and that in turn was inspiring - it felt so good to see the craft (my craft) so alive.

3. You cannot place the alcohol ink in the mold before adding the mixed resin. This will not work. The resin will push the alcohol ink to the sides of the mold.

4. You should wear gloves whilst removing alcohol messes from molds.

5. If someone looks at your red stained hands at the service station on the way home from an event and says "Bad day, was it?" You should just agree. Going into detail about resin and molds is not nearly as much fun as what they were probably imagining.

6. Resin and molds are HOT. They are THE new hot thing. While we taught many, many consumers about it all, we also taught retailers, many of which will now be stocking the items. While I originally said I wasn't going to stock the molds after I sold out, the enthusiasm was so high, the excitment about something new was so extreme, that I decided to stock more. Not only have I come home and re-ordered the old designs, but I have about 10 new ones. These are a few weeks away. Look out for my re-stocking of items, but also look to your local scrapbook store. They'll have it too, and it's fun to shop local.

7. My last conclusion. People are good. From the friends that jumped in the car and travelled hours and stayed in a motel to be there, to the other friends that worked out demos and make n takes with me, to the EFTPOS guy that gave me his number and promised to be there any time I needed him, god I wished my eftpos broke down but it didn't, to the amazing attitude of retailers and consumers alike, it was just fabulous. Some of my biggest smiles this past weekend came when people bought the kids' ribbons and diecuts and I knew they were doing so just to support the kids in their school holiday money making ventures. I know they were doing that and I appreciate it fully. So did the kids. The life lessons they learnt from the project was awesome. The work, the need to pay costs, learning about packaging and presentation and realising that some wouldn't sell. It was all a great learning experience.

Thanks everyone for an amazing SENZ experience. And thanks to my fabulous hubby, it was awesome to spend time on a project together.

July 17, 2012

What a weekend. SENZ was amazing. I mean it really was. Will post an update with a few pics in the next few days. I have always been behind the scenes teaching. This year I was out in the main arena. Loved it. More in a few days.

What am I doing now that I am home? I'm selling the 14 designs of Washi that didn't sell out at SENZ (only because I had lots more of these designs.). I'm ordering more molds...yes you heard me, I'm ordering more molds including new designs. What I didn't understand before I went to SENZ was just how hot the trend would be. It was THE new thing at SENZ. See here for my latest stocks and resin.

Anyway. I do still scrapbook.

I thought I'd share a layout I created recently that has come out in the latest Prima newsletter. It uses the new Prima range called Zephyr. It's all about teal and bright pops of colour. Possibly created with me in mind - no?

I've a few things going on with my scrapping at the moment. The first is the overwhelming need to "Finnbair" everything. This doesn't mean whole layouts full of steampunk and hugely dimensional accents, it just means small sprinklings of mixed media and coloured sprays. I haven't been this enthused about a style for so long, as those that saw me at SENZ can verify...

Layers of canvas, chipboard, small findings and flowers. Nothing is safe. (This all Prima in this layout though)

Resin. Resin pieces of all kinds. Whether it is pre-made accents from companies such as Prima, (used in this layout) or whether it is the kind we make ourselves (what technique was hot at SENZ? Molds and resin!!)...

Something that I did in this layout that I don't normally do is the high contrast black and white photos. Professional photographers would declare them "blown out" but it's a look I love and want to experiment with at the moment. Just for a while.

Check out the flags. Prima always has fun packaging that is easily used in projects. This time they have flags you cut out and use. Clever. Very clever. These flags actually came off the packaging for the canvas pieces.

I had a whole lot of fun with this layout. I'm in the zone at the moment. On one hand I am enjoying my Project Life more than ever, (getting the story told) and on the other hand I'm getting even more Dimensional and more creative with my layouts. Story telling vs creative. So glad to have found a happy medium. Being in a happy creative zone is always a bonus, right?

July 11, 2012

School holidays are always busy, but these winter holidays have been especially busy with the addition of a few events into our days.

The first is the addition of sunshine. The first week was terrible weather but this week we've had sun. We've also shivered the entire time we've been outside, but the sun on our backs is a great feeling, we've filled our vitamin D tanks and there isn't a space on the road outside that isn't covered in chalk drawings from Abby and her friends.

The 2nd addtion to this holidays was a trip to the movies in which I found some great lessons in bringing up children, I bawled like a baby at the end but the biggest reward was staying awake. After the movie was over, the lights came on, I said "That was awesome". Braden said "That was epic", Abby said "You were scared Mum, you held my hand" and Jacob said "No way, you didn't stay awake, did you Mum?" We watched Brave. It was a great movie. Even if I did struggle to stay awake during the fishing part in the middle.

The third edition to these holidays has been the busy hive that is created while getting ready for SENZ. SENZ is a huge NZ craft show and I have a booth this year, full of all the goodies I've been selling, (Washi, molds, kits, twine, gems, flowers etc). We're demo-ing mixed media stuff, we're making tags, we're making cute Prima necklaces, we're selling chipboard, it'll be a lot of fun.

Sometimes I don't know how I get involved in this kind of thing, I never clearly made a conscience decision to retail anything, and it's likely that after SENZ I will stop. I somehow fell into it. However it's in the genes to be a little entreprenuerial I think, I have memories of my Dad making me cut foliage off the farm shelter-belt trees, bunching it up and sending it to the city florist markets to make a dollar or two as a kid. I was amazed over and over how many people had trees and hedges on their farms and they had no clue they could be getting $45 a box for it if they just got out there, cut it and bunched it to sell.

Anyway. I've got the kids involved and they have their own bits and pieces to sell. So far we have Jacob's' Just-Tie-It' Hand dyed Binding ribbon. We have 'Braden's Borders' and 'Braden's Bit's n Bobs', and we have 'Abby's Art Pieces'.

These kids have been working on these all holidays. They have a cost per item they have to pay me and they get to keep the profit.

I'll let ya know early next week how we went, don't forget to pop by at the booth and us and see them if you are at SENZ this coming weekend!

July 04, 2012

It's Wednesday means some cool things in the Howard home this week. Firstly, it's the NZ premier of "The Block". The kids and I have been waiting for a new reality show to start and so we have a 'Block Party" planned. It involves PJs, beanbags, pillows and this. You know. A block for a block party.

Wednesday also means this, in our house... Abby finally losing a front tooth. We've been expecting this for a year or two now, she is 8 1/2 years old so it's been a long time coming. As soon as the tooth came out the other one dropped into the middle. Abby now does an incredibly excellent impression of Nanny McPhee.

Wednesday also meant a trip into town for the library, supermarket and the hat shop, apparently. Because "everyone else has one of those haaaaaats".

Mix the two together and you get this... she could kill me with her one toofed cuteness right now.

Wednesday also means it's only ONE more week before I stop all my trademe auctions for molds, resin, washi and kits and go to Hamilton to set the booth up at SENZ. It's likely I will not be restocking my supplies when they sell out. If you want any of those things or know anyone that does, order this week. I only got the stock in for SENZ in the first place, so once it's gone, it's gone. (Seriously, I'm pulling it all from sale in the hopes of selling out, I know that's going to freak a lot of you out lol)

WEdnesday also means the day after Tuesday. When I created this.

And then after I created that, I created this.

I'm on a super Finn-inspired kick right now, I can't seem to create any other way.

Two cool things though:

1. If you want to see a demo on how I created these tags, come see me at SENZ, at the demo theatre. 11.30am on Friday and 2.30pm on Saturday. You'll see chipboard being used, resin pieces being made, painting, colouring embelishing, it'll be awesome.

2. IF you want step by step instructions with full photos on creating these tags, join me for Dimensional Details.. The tags arecreated by me but inspired by Finnabair... who also guests in the workshop. That's some seriously fun creating, huh?